Discovering a lost heart
by Shantari
Summary: Ron witness something he shouldn't have seen, and runs later in to Luna, who has something she must confess. But to whom? And who's hiding in the shadows?
1. Chapter 1

Discovering a lost heart.

**Author's notes: **This is my first HP-fic, and my second fanfic entirely. The fic takes place in Harry's 6th year, and it is early May. Other than that, you should have all the information you need, granted that you have read the first five books.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter, nor Hogwarts, nor any of the related characters and whatnot. I don't even own a flying broomstick. JK Rowling owns it, as she is the one who created it all with her brilliant mind. Warner Bros claims that they own it, but I will not acknowledge this as they are not the creators. I'm not making money on this, nor do I plan or in any way intend to.

Chapter 1, Secrets.

"Hey, Harry! You'll never guess what…"

But it was Ron that never could have guessed what it was he was going to see.

There stood Harry, with his hands gently squeezing the upperarms of a girl with bushy, brown hair, his head gently bent down, kissing the girl. The girl that both Ron and Harry had known forever, ever since that day on the train to their first year at Hogwarts. The girl that had saved their necks so many times. The girl that had always annoyed him with her stuck up, know-it-all-attityde. The girl, that he had believed himself to be the first of the both of them to discover. The girl that he didn't knew if he loved or liked, or even hated. The girl that was pushing her tiny hands to the small of Harry's back, looking so incredibly happy. Hermione. Upon hearing Ron's shout, both of them jumped away from each other, but it was too late. The image had already burned itself in Ron's mind.

"Oh, hi Ron. Erh…what are you doing here? I mean what do you want."

Ron didn't know what to say. For the longest period of time, it was all he could do just to stand there and breathe.

"Ron! It isn't what it looks like. I mean, it is what it looks like, or rather… How do I say this?" Harry was lost for words, something Ron wasn't sure could have been expected.

"You don't! I can't believe the two of you! With You-know-who on the loose, there are better things to do than snog all day long."

"Now, wait just a minute! You got it all wrong." Hermione snapped, flushed by Ron's accusations. But Ron didn't wait around to hear her trying to defend herself. He walked briskly back through the Fat Lady's portrait, and once outside he started to run through the corridors.

He just couldn't believe it. Harry and Hermione. Harry and Hermione. Together. How long had it been going on? Why hadn't they told him? Had they been laughing behind his back? Poor little Ron. So completely immature and naïve to the ways of love. He wouldn't understand even if we told him, so why not just amuse ourselves by watching him suffer and make a bloody fool of himself, while we kiss and do all kinds of fun things he will never know of. All of this time, as Ron had been noticing Hermione, little by little, he had been realising bit by bit what a wonderful girl she really was. At first she had been driving him crazy, and still did actually. But now he had just been feeling crazy for her. Hadn't she noticed how he felt for her? For heaven's sake, he had even bought her perfume. Didn't that count for something? Of course he knew he couldn't compete with Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived and everything, but still… So what if Harry was more famous than him? So what if Harry was richer? Or smarter? Or braver? Or better at just about everything? So what if Harry could have his pick of girls, and he picked the one Ron had happened to fancy? It's not like there wasn't tons of other girls out there, waiting and longing for the boy who was second best to The Boy Who Lived… Right? Ron had been so lost in his thoughts, that he didn't notice that he had reached the grounds and that he was being watched by a mysterious figure who was lurking in the shadows of a corridor, watching him through a window.

Luna was standing by the lake, looking over the giant squid's lazy movements in the water. She was still gathering courage. Funny, that usually wasn't a problem. It was difficult to remember a time when she had been as nervous as she was now. Maybe during the sorting ceremony. Or maybe that day on the train, when she had mustered the courage to say something to him. He, who had been on her mind for such a long time, ever since she first heard of him during her first year. He had been quite famous then, what with the flying car that he had rode to school with and everything, so maybe it wasn't that strange that she had gotten interested in him already then. She remember aproaching Ginny, the only one in her year she could be certain had the information she needed on him. She never told Ginny back then who she was interested in, afraid that it could lead to a tension between them. Only recently had she actually told her about her crush, and to her surprise Ginny hadn't minded at all. In fact she said that it had been fairly obvious. Now Luna's interest in him had grown, first into a schoolgirl crush, and now to a love in full bloom. It had taken her some time to realise it, but she knew with all of her heart that it was true. She loved him. And her happiest moment had come to pass last year, on the train to Hogwarts for her fourth year, meeting him. At first she had dreaded that moment, fearing that all of her dreams would be crushed by seeing him in person. But now, she was as happy as she could be, because he was everything she had hoped for. And before the year ended, she got to meet him again and again, and even go into battle with him. And yet, she had never mustered the courage to tell him. Why was it so difficult? She told Ginny about it, why would it make any difference if she told him? If she only had a little more courage, just a little more, so she could tell him without hesitation. Then again if she had had more courage, she would have been a part of his house, and then she wouldn't have had any problems at all. She could have gotten to know him that way, and then she wouldn't feel so nervous about it. She could have just sat herself next to him at the Gryffindor-table, and maybe pass him a note or something… But that doesn't matter now, does it? Wishful thinking can't change the past anyway. Focus on the present and what must been done. What was that now again? Oh, yes. Come out in the open and tell him that she felt about him. Yes, that shouldn't be too difficult. Now should it? A soft trample in the grass from behind her, interrupted her musings. She turned around quickly. Who dared to interrupt her internal preparation to confess to her love? She let out a small, almost inaudible gasp of surprise. None other than Ronald Weasley.

Ron thought he heard a sharp intake of breath and looked up from his own broodings. Oh, it was just Luna. Must have heard wrong then. She is way to mellow to do anything sharply, yet alone breathe sharply. Now that he was out of his depressing train of thoughts, he took a look around him. Blimey, he had reached the lake. He had had no idea where he was going, how had he managed to end up here? And what was she doing here? Lord knew that he had seen enough of her over the last year or so. Ever since the battle in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic, she had been with him and the others every now and so often. He was thinking of getting out of there, as fast as possible. Even during normal circumstances he found her hard to bear, now that his world had turned upside down, he just wanted to be alone.

Oh, my God. How come he is here now? I'm not ready. Just give me a few more minutes, and I can say it. One more moment and I can tell him. Am I blushing? She reached a hand as discretely as possible to her cheek. No, she didn't feel that hot. Well, that was something at least. Oh, what is wrong with me? She wasn't usually this nervous in front of him. That was why she had believed today would be the day, the day when she could tell him. Now, go on, say it. Say it or regret it. He looks like he is going to go away. Please don't go away. With You-know-who around every corner, there is just no telling when she would ever get a chance like this again. Oh no, he is already turning around. He is going to leave her all alone and nervous, without ever having made the confession. Quick say something, anything.

He didn't know what to make of her. She was just standing there, like usual, not even reacting to his presence. And yet, he had a sneaking suspicion that she had something on her mind. Oh well, let her think about it in peace, he had his own problems. He turned around and started walking away.

"RONALD!"

Reflexively he put his hands over his ears. What in the world was she shouting for? He was standing right there.

Oh, blast! Why did I have to scream my head of like that? Now, he'll just think I'm an idiot as usual, and walk away. Status quo. Nothing changed.

"What is it?"

She could not dare to believe it. He hadn't walked away, pretending he didn't hear anything. Instead he had responded. To her. Quick, come up with something, while there is still a chance. Don't let him get away now.

"Don't step there." She pointed at a spot of grass, just beneath his raised foot.

"Why not?" He knew he shouldn't ask, but Loony Luna's antics could sometimes be a bit amusing. And he knew he needed a laugh now.

"Is there a Kacky Snorgel there, that you're afraid I might trample?" He was already laughing a bit, if only chuckling.

"First of, it's called a Crumple-Horned Snorkack. Second, they only live in Sweden. Third, there is a poisonous spider around here, and I don't think you would want to be bitten." Why could she only come up with such an awful lie? He was bound to see through that one.

"Spider?" Ron got awfully nervous. She could actually be on the level with this one, and he didn't want to take any chances if spiders were involved. Now wouldn't that be all his horrors unleashed on one day. Harry kissing Hermione, spiders and Luna being on the level with anything.

"Yes, a Spotty-Striped Waterspider, to be exact. Usually they reside on the bottom of the lake, but this one climbed up just now. I saw it myself. He is hiding in the grass somewhere, I reckon I'd capture it, before telling the teachers." Well, what do you know? He actually seemed to believe it. He must be an arachnophobic. This bluff could actually work. Lucky for her that she had recently read a report on Spotty-Striped Waterspider, that her father was writing an article on.

"Wait," Ron said wavering just a little on his voice, "now wait just a minute!" He was having a difficult time balancing on only one leg. "How can it be Spotty-Striped?"

"It is striped, but the stripes are a little slurry, so they look a bit spottish," Luna replied calmly.

"You said it was poisonous, right?" Ron couldn't understand why she was so bloody calm. It was so unnerving.

"Yes," she replied even more calmly.

"So how did you reckon on catching it with your bare hands?" he asked, thinking that something wasn't right with her story.

"Bare hands?" She said dubiously while pulling her wand from behind her ear.

"Why didn't you pull it out before?" Instead of letting me make a fool of myself on one leg, he thought to himself.

"Because sudden movements could scare it. Now, could you just hold still?"

Ron nodded slowly. Her seriousness had gotten through to him, and his fear of spiders convinced him to do as she said. She whipped out her wand, and bended her knees slowly, trying to get a closer look under his foot. Now, what to do? She thought quickly and then muttered a spell. A small beam of light vent from her wand to the small spot of grass, and there was a little explosion and a flash of purple light. Ron jumped on the one leg still standing on the ground, fighting to keep his balance intact.

"Oh, blast! It got away." She feigned a look of frustration.

"What does that mean?" Ron, still standing on one leg, was getting fed up with this. He looked ridiculous, standing there. And she wasn't making things easier by being so mysterious about everything.

"It's alright now. You can put your foot down." No reason to prolong it. In case he discovered that there wasn't a spider scurrying around in the grass, it was best to let it stop now.

Ron did put his foot down, slowly. He wasn't sure that he believed what she said, but for some reason he felt better and happier by just playing along. Yes, he felt better, but… Better from what? And then he remembered the reason he had had for storming out of the Gryffindor tower, and he just wanted to be alone again. He turned around once more and without saying a word to her. He was about to leave, when Luna did something she had never done before, and grabbed his arm.


	2. Chapter 2

Discovering a lost heart.

**Author's notes: **I really had some problem with the ending, since I realised that I don't know where I'm going to take this story. So if it seems like a cliffhanger, then it is because it is one. The next update will take probably take some time, I'm afraid. But I will try and make up for it, by making the next chapter longer than this. And now that I've gone and made promises that I can't be sure to keep, go ahead and enjoy the the latest chapter of my fic.

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own Harry Potter or anything or anyone related to him (I sure as heck don't want to own Dudley). I'm not making money on this, but if you wish to prove me wrong, I won't be to upset if you send me money. Preferably euro or yen, I don't trust the dollar as it stands. Cookies would be nice too...

Chapter 2, Confessions.

Time is a wonderous thing. Eventhough it never really changes pace, it can sometimes appear to do so. During times of fun it seems to accelerate, disappearing off in to the distance. During times of waiting it seems to move so slowly, its movement is hardly noticeable. And some times, usually when one doesn't know what to do next, it doesn't seem to move at all. This was one of those times.

Oh no. It is just not possible, it couldn't have happened. But it had happened, Luna had grabbed his arm. How foolish of her. There just wasn't any way she was going to get out of this one. Might as well take the bull by the horns, and come out in to the open.

"Ronald. I… I want to tell you something." Mustn't show a hint of doubt. Mustn't let him know how nervous she really was.

What now? Not only did she have to prevent him from getting away to be alone, she had to grab his arm to make the situation as embarrassing as possible. How was he going to get out of this situation without making a fool of himself?

"Ronald. I… I want to tell you something."

What? What could she possibly have to tell him? It's not like they knew eachother that well. He turned to look at her.

"For a long time now, I've been… Oh, I don't know how to say this…"

Luna, speachless? Had the world gone mad? Or had he just dreamed of waking up and getting out of bed, never truely leaving the merry land of dreams? Luna would certainly fit in there.

"I love…no, I mean…I like…no, I mean…" Why wouldn't the words come out? She knew what she wanted to tell him, didn't she? Then why was it so difficult?

Why is she talking about love in front of him for? Oh, now he got it. For the only reason any girl would even dream of getting close to him for.

"Look. I'm not the right person to be telling this to."

Luna was completely taken aback. What did he mean?

"If you want me to hear you confess your undying love to Harry, so that I can tell him for you, then you are just picking the worst time imaginable."

"Wait, Ronald…"

"It's too late anyway. He's found true love now, and they're off snogging themselves senseless." He was sure that steam was coming out of his ears by now. Certainly his cheeks were flushing.

"You mean Hermione?" It wasn't that difficult to guess, really. Luna knew that she had seen something between those two.

"You knew?" Was he really the last person to know? Had even Luna been told before him?

"I guessed, with what I have seen of them." Luna began to relax, he had just misinterpreted her. There was still a chance that he might…

"So everybody could see it in plain sight, except me," he said as he sighed.

Luna picked up on the sad note in his voice. Why was it upsetting him so much? And then she remembered something that Ginny had said, and understood. He had still been hoping to pair off Harry with his little sister.

"Don't feel bad about it. Neither of them saw it happening either, but they couldn't be with anyone else."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just that you can't expect two people who don't belong with eachother, to get together just because you want them to. Love doesn't work that way."

"So you don't think she and I could have been together?"

This brought Luna to a dead stop. She and I? This wasn't about Harry and Ginny? But who, then? Hermione? Could it be about Ronald and Hermione, oh no… But of course, how blind could she be? Her hand let go of his arm and fell limply to her side. Ron hardly noticed as he was full of emotion of his own.

"Of course not! Why would you? Why would anyone?" That said, he turned on his heel and left to find a more secluded area, leaving Luna all alone.

Of course. They had been prefects together, they were close friends. There was no way that Luna could compete with her. She had been with Ronald since their first year, she was pretty and smart. She was everything Ronald wanted, and would ever want to want. And even now, when she was together with someone else, Ronald still loved her and wanted to be with her. Ronald loved Hermione. She felt as if someone had knocked all the air out of her. And why did it have to rain now? Wait, it wasn't raining. Then why did she feel her face getting wet? She reached up with her fingers to her face. Tears? She gave a tentative lick to her fingers. Salty. Just like back then, the last time she had shed tears. Her mother's funeral.

Ron kept on walking. Why were there so much people everywhere? Was there no place where he could be alone with his own thoughts? Scratch that! Was there no place where he could be alone away from his own thoughts? But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't escape from his thoughts. The funny thing was that he should have seen it coming. The way Hermione seemed to always be thinking about Harry whenever she and Ron were alone together, how she always got along better with Harry and how she always seemed to shun him away. Ron just wasnt good enough. For anyone. Even Loony Luna was as eager to confess her love to the Boy Who Lived, as everyone else was. Luna. Why did she have to enter his thoughts? Ginny had also had a crush on Harry, but it was Luna that he first thought of. Ginny. Had she known? Was that what she had meant by giving up on Harry? And why couldn't he get Luna's face out of his mind? He didn't know if he should be glad that he ran into her or not. Sure, she had been able to take his mind off his troubles, but it had hurt to hear her, so casually, tell him that Hermione and Harry getting together was obvious. He had, since their forth year, thought he knew what was obvious and what wasn't. It had been obvious that Harry and Cho were going to get together. And when they broke up, he had thought that it would be obvious if Harry and his sister got together. But they never did, and now this happened. Might as well predict that Harry and Loony would get together. Loony Luna. He laughed a little, thinking about the Spotty-Striped Waterspider, and then shook his head vehemently. He was getting much to side-tracked on this whole issue, and he felt that he needed to focus, so he could get it over with. He just wanted to sort out his feelings about it all and move on with things.

First things first, how did he really feel about it? Since he stormed out of the common room, he hadn't stopped to consider his own feelings on the whole situation. Sure, he felt betrayed, but why? Because Hermione and Harry kissed each other. But why was that hurtful? Because Ron wanted to kiss... no, be together with Hermione. Right? Yes, right. He maybe had been slow in realising his feelings for what they were, but he was somewhat certain about them. Somewhat? Nevermind. Why did he feel betrayed? Because they never told him. Did they know beforehand that this was how they felt about each other? He guessed so, but he wasn't sure. Luna had been certain that they were going to get together, but had they seen it themselves? Maybe Luna had picked up on something no one else saw, it would be very typical for her to do that. But if they hadn't known themselves... then they hadn't been keeping it a secret, right? But how would he know? He wondered how Luna saw... Luna. She had said that it was fairly obvious, meaning that she knew they were likely to get together. And she said it almost happily... Of course! She hadn't been on her way to confess her love of Harry Potter. She was thinking about... About what? He thought back to what she said. "I love, no I mean... I like...", that's what she had been saying. So maybe it was about someone else she loved, but who? It couldn't be Ron, he wasn't special enough for anyone to love. But who else could it have been? Neville? Dean? Seamus? What business was it of his anyway? Luna could get together with whoever she damn pleased to get together with. None of his business at all. With that thought he crossed his arms and took a look around him. He had reached the edge of the forbidden forest, quite a bit away from Hagrid's hut, and he had a complete view of the lake. He could see the distant figure of Luna still standing by the edge of the lake. From what he could see, she was standing very much in the same place as he left her, except her arms were hanging by her sides and she was looking out over the lake, her back to him. She was very still for the moment, and he became hypnotized by her solitary frame. Then she bent down to the ground and picked something up.

The lake looked so peaceful. What she could see of it with her eyes flooded by tears. She didn't want anyone to see her like this, and since she didn't have a handkerchief with her, she waited for the tears to run dry. Then she could wipe her face with her sleeve and head back to the castle. Hopefully Ronald didn't find out how she felt from what she said, she kept wondering about that. If he knew how she had felt it would make everything so much more embarrassing. Ronald. He was in love wih Hermione. And she knew that she couldn't blame him. Hermione was the cleverest witch in her year, Luna was just the second cleverest in her own year. Hemione looked pretty with her unruly hair, Luna looked strange with her necklace of Butterbeer corks. Ronald had known Hermione since their first year, and hadn't even talked with Luna before her forth year. But even so... How come he couldn't notice her? How come that, even when Hermione was with Harry, Ronald wouldn't give her a second glance before going off? Not that Luna had wanted him to see her cry, of course. Unless a part of her did want him to see, if anything to tell him how much he hurt her. Her face was quivering now, and she didn't care whether it was her restrained tears or anger that caused it. She just felt like hitting something really hard. But she was surrounded by water, and it just wasn't rewarding to punch that. She looked down at the ground by her feet, and saw a few rocks. She bent down and picked one up. Tossing it in the air once, she thought hard on what had happened earlier, and the revelations that had come from it, and then squeezed the rock hard in her hand. Letting all her anger and sadness flow in to the rock, she lifted it up and threw it hard in the lake. Feeling the intense relief of emotions, she beamed proudly at the ripples she had caused. As she was about to turn around, she heard a sudden sound.


	3. Chapter 3

Discovering a lost heart

**Author's notes: **This was an interesting chapter for me to write, as I finally realised that I hadn't planned as well as I had hoped. This was one of three possible outcomes that I considered, but this was the best one, so I'm happy with it. I finally got the chance to bring in other popular HP-characters, and I hope you will like my portrayal of them.

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own Harry Potter or Ronald or Luna or anyone. I don't even own myself, Microsoft bought me up. And no, I don't make any money on this. Even if I did, it would all go to Bill Gates.

Chapter 3, Resolutions.

As she was about to turn around, she heard a sudden sound. It was a rather odd sound, so she quicly turned to its source. To her right along the lake, a blond boy in Slytherin clothes was sauntering towards her. She suddenly recognised him as the seeker for the Slytherin team, Draco Malfoy. One of those rich kids that seemed to be of the opinion that everyone else was beneeth him. She now saw that the strange sound she had heard was coming from his mouth. It looked as though he was laughing, although she had never heard such a sound constitute as laughter before. The sound spoke more of contempt than pure mirth, though it did seem that he was enjoying himself. As Luna had poor experience from being the butt of a Slytherin's joke, she turned around to make her way in the opposite direction. Unfortunately though, she wasn't fast enough.

"Well, well. If it isn't the famous Loony Lovegood," he yelled out to her. "What's the matter? Did your father's paper go bankrupt again?"

At first she wondered what on Earth he was talking about, but as she remembered herself, her hands raced up to her cheeks. Her face was still showing signs of having crying, very obvious signs at that. She ran her fingers along the path of semi-dryed tears that were running down her cheeks.

"No, wait, I know," the horrible boy continued. "St Potter has withdrawn his support from the lunatics, to focus his attention on protecting the mudbloods."

"Leave her alone, Malfoy!"

Luna turned around. Ronald. He looked mad as he walked up to the two of them, mad at Malfoy.

"Well, if it isn't the Weasel. Feeling a bit protective over your girlfriend, are you?"

Luna felt her heart skip a beat, and blushed. Ronald defending her? She thought that she was going to start crying again, but thinking about it made her turn her back to Ronald. She still wasn't sure if she wanted him to see her cry.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Ron excalimed with feeling. He didn't want her to be more teased by Malfoy than she appearantly already was. "But I don't want you to be picking on a friend of mine."

"So you heard that bit about St Potter, eh?"

"No," Ron said calmly. "But I saw her cry. And you shouldn't make one of my friends cry, Malfoy! I happen to be in the perfect mood to wipe that smile off your face with my fist."

"Sorry to disappoint you, Weasley," Malfoy smirked. "But she was already crying before I even opened my mouth."

Ron quickly turned to look at Luna, who was still determined not to let hims see her like that. He didn't know what to make of her backside turned to him.

"Perhaps you're the one to blame, instead of me," Malfoy continued, happy to bring misery about. He watched Ron as his cheeks turned crimson red. "It would seem that way." Draco was enjoying himself greatly. It wasn't everyday you could spread such discontent amongst such lowlifes as the Weasleys and the Lovegoods. Mostly it was only every other day. "Well, I have business elsewhere, so I think I'll leave you lovebirds here to sort out your own problems." Whistling merrily, Draco made his way back to the castle, leaving two very uncomfortable and troubled teenagers behind him.

Ron couldn't stop looking at Luna's back. Had he been responsible? He had after all been the last one to talk to Luna before Draco did. But should he really take Draco's word on it? Well, considering that she wouldn't even look at him, it could be fairly safe to assume that he was responsible, and that Draco had just been kicking her while she was down. He felt like strangling the little ferret for doing that, but there were more important matters to take care of now. Luna. He walked up to her, as she was standing with her back slightly hunched, her face aimed almost directly down to the ground.

Mustn't let him see me like this. Mustn't let him see me. Mustn't let him. Mustn't let him. Luna was closing her eyes so hard that it almost hurt. If he sees me crying, I will feel like a total idiot.

"You know, closing your eyes don't make you invisible."

Hearing that, she suddenly opened her eyes. Ronald's face was inches from her own. With a gasp, she quickly retracted herself, only to fall on her bottom. In front of her, she could see Ronald standing, slightly bending his knees and his side so that he could face her on the spot she had been standing a moment ago. Now she felt less like a total idiot, and more like a complete and utterly ridiculous idiot. Straightening himself up, he turned to give her a helping hand. She took it gladly, and once on steady feet, she started to brush herself off. Turning around in the opposite direction, she quickly said:

"Thanks, bye, gotta go."

"No, wait!"

Once more a arm was grabbed, but this time it was Ron who grabbed Luna's arm. And he knew then that he never wanted to let go of it. Though he didn't knew why or how he knew it, he was certain that it was true.

Luna was stunned. Frozen to the ground. He was holding her arm, he didn't want to let her go away. Why? Why couldn't she just go away to be alone in peace? Why did he want to humiliate her like this? If he knew that she was crying over him, then she would never be able to live it down. Why couldn't she just mourn his rejection in peace? Instantly, she caught up with herself. He hadn't rejected her, he never had the chance, she knew how he felt before he knew how she felt. So was she rejected or was she just not loved? Did it matter? She was still hurt.

"Luna. Is it true what Malfoy said?" He looked at her silent backside. "That you were already crying, when he started bothering you, I mean."

Slowly, she nodded. Might as well admit the truth and get it over with.

"So it was something that I had said, that made you cry."

Slowly, and more reluctantly, she nodded. He couldn't she her closing her eyes tightly, desperate to squeeze out the last tears.

"Oh. I think that I understand," he said, letting go of her arm.

Released from his grip, she straightened herself up and wiped her face with her sleeve. She knew that it was inevitable for him to figure it out. Might as well face it with some of her pride intact. She turned around to face him.

"You were hoping that if me and Hermione got it together, you could be with Harry."

He said it calmly, trying to remain as emotionless as possible. He didn't want to reveal what he was feeling to her, not until he was certain of what was really going on.

Luna couldn't believe what she was hearing. She stared at the boy in front of her, like he was a yellowgreen martian with pink stripes. And then, unable to contain herself, she burst out in a bubbling laughter. In fact she laughed so hard, that she had to clutch her stomach and couldn't stand upright. Ronald stared at her perplexed, his eyes wide open.

"What the bloody hell are you laughing about?" Ron said, not understanding what could have been so incredibly amusing about what he just said.

"You ...(haha)... really ...(giggle)... believe that?" She asked, fighting against the tidal wave of laughter inside of her. Her eyes were once more filling up with tears, but she frankly couldn't care less.

"Well, what else could it be about?"

Instantly Luna ceased to laugh, burying her mirth down for later. Now was the time to get to business.

"Ronald, isn't it obvious?"

Ron shook his head vehemently. There was no good enough explanation for her behaviour unless...

"I love you, Ronald!" she exclaimed, without even thinking about what she was doing.

Stunned, he stared at her. What did she just say? She loves me? Me? How's that even possible? I mean, shouldn't I have seen it coming? The answer was no. He had never bothered to look close enough to see it coming. But still... Me?

Luna looked at him. He looked kind of cute with his mouth hanging open like that. Not exactly the way she had imagined him looking like, but it was close enough. Smiling to herself she was happy that she had finally got it out into the open, it didn't really matter to her now if he didn't feel the same. Atleast she now wouldn't spend the rest of her life wondering about what might have been. Since Ronald had let go of her a long time ago, and he seemed quite preoccupied at the moment, she decided to go back to her dorm for now. And so she did, leaving Ronald still staring empty ahead of him, his mouth hanging open.

She loves me? Why? Why would she love me? I'm not all that good looking. I'm not famous. I don't even know her that well. I just met her little over a year ago. But during that time he had to admit to himself, that he had gotten quite close to her actually. He didnt really know what it was about her, but he sometimes found it hard not to think about her. No matter if it was something that she had said or something that she had done, he remembered it. Simply because it was she who had done it. He remembered how she had laughed at his joke on the trainride, that very first time when he met her. He remebered how even when his mind was not alright, she had stood by him and given him support. Although that was probably a dream or a hallucination induced by his state of mind at the time. Now that he thought about it, she had always been there for him, from the moment they met. But of course that had only been a little over a year ago. He had known Hermione forever, and she was the one he loved. The one who, apparently, also Harry loved. And who loved Harry back. Surprised for a moment, Ron stood still contemplating his feelings. There was something he didn't feel, that he had the vague sense of knowing that he should be feeling. It was something that he had felt earlier that day, that much he was sure of. Thinking back to what he did then, he suddenly felt embarrassed. He had had no right to act the way he did, no matter if they had kept a secret from him or not. It wasn't his business to begin with. Although he was certain that it had felt like his business back then. He shrugged his shoulders, realising that there was only one thing left for him to do. So he made his way back to the Gryffindor tower.

Luna walked through the corridors, heading as directly for the Ravenclaw common room as possible. She tried to seem as casual as possible, but most of all she wanted to run down the corridor, up to her bedroom and hug her pillow tightly to herself. She was so focused on appearing not to be in a hurry, that she did not notice that she was being watched.

'Interesting' thought the figure. 'Very interesting. She is taking things a whole lot better than I had thought that she would. Perhaps this will go even smother than previously thought.' With that thought, the figure withdrew into the shadows, turning around and walking towards a door. With a swish of cloth, there was no one to be seen in the corridor. Until a certain red-haired Gryffindor showed up.

Ginny looked down the corridor where she thought that she had seen Luna go into. She couldn't understand why Luna had completely ignored her before, passing by her as she wasn't even there. It was highly impolite and unusual for Luna to do so. Especially since Luna had promised to tell her about everything. Luna always kept her promises to Ginny and she never ignored her like that. Ginny thought of going after her friend and demand an explanation, but realised that it would be a futile task if she had already entered her common room. Ginny didn't know the Ravenclaw password. She had almost resigned herself completely to the idea of having to wait till the next time she met her, when an idea struck her. Why not ask her brother directly? It would of course take a bit of persuasion, but she might just get him to tell her what he thought of Luna's confession. And if she couldn't get him to talk, then she would just have to wait for Luna. She had nothing to lose. Whistling a merry tune, she walked leisurely to the Gryffindor tower.

When Ron returned to the Gryffindor tower, the first thing he saw was Harry sitting in an armchair, apparently catching up on his homework. Quietly he approached him, desperately trying to think of what to say. He realised only now that he hadn't given much thought to that, and was feeling a bit nervous. For some odd reason he was feeling ashamed for having stormed out like he did before, and he was worried that Harry might be angry with him for doing so. So he decided to start with an apology.

"Ehm, Ha-arry." God, why did he sound like Colin Creevey for heaven's sake?

Harry looked up at his friend surprised at his sudden presence. He could have sworn that he was all alone in the common room. At the sight of Ron he didn't really know how to react, he wasn't sure who had the right to be angry at whom and he certainly didn't want a repeat of that incident in their forth year. Best to go out carefully.

"Hi, Ron. How are you feeling now?"

"Awful." Ron said with a tone of sadness.

"Really?" said Harry, getting a bit angry. Forget about being civil. "Was it that horrible to see me kiss a girl?"

"What? No, no," Ro hurriedly explained himself. "What I mean is that I feel awful about storming out like that. I put you in an akward position there."

"Oh, don't worry about it," said Harry with a smile. There was something odd about Ron, he didn't behave like he had thought he would. "We were alone, so you didn't exactly cause a scene or so. No hard feelings."

"Really?" said Ron, feeling relieved. "Because I came to apologise for my behaviour, you see."

"Of course, I'm afraid that I can only answer for myself," continued Harry, putting away his homework so he could stand up straight. "Hermione seemed quite upset at you."

"Oh?" Ron felt less relieved.

"Not to worry, though," said Harry. "She mostly seemed disappointed that you had to find out about it this way."

"Oh, I see," said Ron. "By the way, when did this happen? I mean when did you...?" Ron wasn't sure on how to phrase his question.

"I'm not quite sure myself. In fact, I was as surprised over that kiss as you were." Harry seemed a bit emberrased at admitting it.

"You mean," said Ron. "That that was your first kiss together?"

"Yeah, I'd think so." Harry became slightly red. "Actually it was our first of anything, I hadn't even realised that we both felt that strongly for each other until then."

Ron's ears turned a brilliant scarlet. He had walked in on their first kiss? Harry hadn't known himself what was going on before that? They hadn't kept a secret relationship under his nose all of the time? He had gotten angry at them for nothing, nothing at all. His face soon matched his ears.

"I'm really sorry, mate," Ron truely sounded sorry. "I really didn't mean to walk in on you like that. And about my reaction..."

"Like I said, don't worry," Harry could understand him. "There are no hard feelings between us."

Ron stood quietly for a while, trying to think of any way to change the subject.

"You know," said Harry all of a sudden. "I think that you said something before about having some news or something."

Ron tried to remember what it had been about, but he honestly couldn't. Too many other things had happened since then this day.

"Probably nothing important," he brushed it off. "Hey, you wanna go out and get some quidditch practice done today?"

"Sure," said Harry. "Let's go get our broomsticks."

A moment later the two boys were heading for the quidditch field, talking happily about the last quidditch match they had had. And about the time that they had reached the entrance hall, Ginny walked in to the common room.


	4. Chapter 4

Discovering a lost heart.

**Author's notes: **This turned out to be the longest chapter yet, which makes me fairly proud of myself. You may have noticed that I write way too short chapters, but this will probably hold you for a while. I have no idea when I'll get the next chapter finished. Also, a little note for you Luna-lovers, she doesn't show up in this chapter. Just thought I should tell you so that you don't get your hopes up. This fic is mostly about Ron, and his way of dealing with his feelings, so the story has to focus on him a lot. As a compensation, the next chapter will focus a whole lot more on Luna.

**Disclaimer:** No, I still don't Harry Potter. I still don't own myself. Yes, microsoft is still robbing me off my soul. But only threehundred and forty seven more pay off's and I'll be the sole propriator of my own soul again. I am not making money on this. If I did, it'd be only threehundred and forty pay off's left...

Chapter 4, Revelations.

Ginny looked around in the empty common room. Now, where could Ron be? Maybe it had been a dumb idea to go look for him in the common room, almost everyone else was out on the school grounds in the sunny weather. Just as she was about to leave to look for Ron outside, Hermione showed up in the girls' staircase.

"Ginny?" She seemed rather surprised to see her, and quickly looked around in the room looking for something. "Where's Harry?"

"I don't know. Have you seen Ron?"

"No, not since this morning. That's strange, " her mind appearently still on Harry. "I thought he said that he was going to stay inside today to catch up on his studies."

"Well, you know Ron, he isn't much for studying."

"I was talking about Harry. Oh, where could he have gone to?" Hermione looked frustrated. "I wanted to talk to him about... something."

"Something?" asked Ginny. "What kind of something?"

"Nothing for you to think about, Ginny," said Hermione blushing.

"Uh-huh." Ginny grinned with delight. It looked like she would get to question two of her girl friends about their love affairs. Luna could wait, she just had to know what kind of progress Hermione had done on Harry. And anything else she had done on him.

"Anyway!" exclaimed Hermione. "It shouldn't be too difficult to guess where both of them have gone off to."

Ginny looked questioningly at Hermione, who walked resolutely up to the boys' staircase. After a moment she returned with a satisfied smile.

"They're off at the quidditch field," she said happily and made her way to the portrait.

"How do you know?" Ginny followed her.

"Their broomsticks are missing. Also, your hint about knowing Ron, reminded me that anyone knowing those two should know where they are when people or trouble are looking for them." Hermione looked a bit strange to Ginny as she made sure that she had her wand with her. What would Hermione need her wand for? Hmm, if both Ron and Harry are at the quidditch field for extra practice, and Hermione, most likely, will single out Harry, there might be a good chance of questioning Ron. Merrily she skipped along after Hermione, only slightly bothered by the thought that she forgot her own broomstick. Practice would have been nice for afterwards.

Ron felt elevated by flying, and decided to take his broom for a real spin. Doing a couple of somersaults, he pointed his broom straight upwards and flew as high as he dared before he turned the nose back down and made a stomach twisting dive. Feeling more alive than ever, he let out a shout of exhilariation. Just before he was about to crash into the ground, he straightened up the broom and zoomed upwards. Taking a moment to hover while he listened to his heart racing, he noticed that Harry was laughing.

"I thought we were going to practice your goal defending." Harry laughed as he said this.

Ron looked a bit sheepish.

"Well, ehh, I thought that I should see what my broom can really do. "

"Fine, whatever." Harry grinned. It was good to see Ron in a good mood. A troubled Ron was the last thing that he wanted to see, next to a disheartened Hermione. Considering the situation as it was, Harry decided to try and avoid thinking of Hermione as of now. He didn't want to upset Ron. And yet, he had the strange feeling that Ron wasn't upset about that. In fact it seemed that something else was on his friend's mind, something that Harry knew nothing of. Lost in his thoughts it took him a while to hear someone calling his name.

"HARRY!"

Finally hearing it he turned so suddenly around on his broomstick that he almost fell off of it. Hermione?

"Get down here! Now!"

"And take my brother down with you!"

Ginny? What did she want with Ron? Ah, well, it's probably sibling stuff or something. He turned aroud to look for Ron, and finally spotted him doing all kinds of maneuvers around the goal posts. He turned his Firebolt around and flew towards him. After a few shouts, he managed to get through to Ron.

"RON!"

"What?" Ron stopped in midair.

"Your sister wants to talk with you."

"Eh? Ginny?" What had he done now?

As they both landed on the ground, Hermione was looking peeved and Ginny was looking satisfied. Ron didn't really want to talk with either of them in these states, but he knew that he would have to talk with both of them. Better take Hermione first, since that would be the more difficult matter to deal with. But before he even had the chance to open his mouth, Hermione strided towards both Harry and Ron, turning to face Harry.

"I thought you had some studying to catch up on?"

Harry looked very embarrassed, and fidgeted a little.

"Ahh, well Hermione. You see ... Well, you know that there are some things that ... What I mean is..."

"I'm glad that you took some time off to make up with Ron. But you could have told me. You're not the only one he's friends with."

"Well, the thing is, you seemed to be very angry about it, and Ron was feeling bad enough about it..."

"Be that as it may. You should still have told me that you were going off to play quidditch, and not leave like that without telling."

Harry was blushing a little, but saw this as his golden opportunity. As long as Hermione got to be right, she would be happy about it.

"You're right, Hermione. I'm sorry. Will you forgive me?"

Hermione grabbed her chin with one hand and pretended to ponder it a while.

"Oh, sure, why not?"

Then she quickly turned to Ron.

"And as for you..."

"Hermione, I had no right to explode on you two like that. Or to storm out and leave you behind to feel embarrassed. I am truely sorry for what I did."

Hermione looked a bit incredulous. She was about to say something, but stopped herself. A quick flash of emotion displayed on her face. Was it sadness? Or regret? But as soon as it was there it was gone. And replaced with a genuinely happy smile. She started to say something else, but she quickly stopped herself again. At which Ginny turned up. Ron remembering himself, turned to her.

"Harry said that you wanted to talk to me about something?"

Ginny looked taken aback for a second. But she was soon wearing that look of satisfaction that had Ron worried, slightly disguised under a look of feigned modesty.

"Well if it is alright with you, could we go over there and talk about something. It isn't that important, and I can understand if you don't want to ... "

"No problem, Ginny!" Ron knew that when she had that look on her face, there was no escape. The only thing to do then was to take the bull by the horns. He turned to his two friends.

"If it's OK with you guys, we'll just be on our way."

"Go on you two. Harry need to do some studying anyway. Don't you, Harry?"

"How can I refuse when I have such a lovely studying comrade by my side? Shall we?" He stretched out his bended arm to Hermione, who delightfully hooked her arm to his. The couple went on their merry way off to the Gryffindor tower to continue their studies.

Meanwhile Ron was left with his little sister in her up-to-no-good-mood. With a sigh he resigned himself to fate.

"Now, what is it that you want from me?"

"What makes you think that I want something from you?" Ginny's eyes were tindering very much like the eyes of a puppy begging for food. The look on her face was so studiously innocent, that it just had to be fake.

"No reason. Just tell me."

"I was only going to ask you if you had run into Luna today, that's all." Ginny was picking at a straw of grass, trying to tie it into a elaborate knot.

"What makes you ... I mean, why would you wanna ask that." Ron's voice was breaking slightly, evident of the fact that he was still shaken by the revelations that Luna had made him face.

"Well, she is one of my best friends after all. And she had something that she wanted to talk with me about, and I haven't been able to get hold of her today."

"Why would I know of where she is? What makes you think that I've even met her today?"

"Because that was what she wanted to tell me about. She had something to tell you, and then she was going to tell me." Ginny flashed her teeth in a wide grin, and giggled a little.

"Te-tell me? Tell you?" Oh boy, there was just no way out of this one. Except ...

"Well, would you look at the time. Gotta go, bye." But as Ron was making his rapid gettaway, Ginny nonchalantly tripped his legs so that he fell flat on his face. Air going out of his lungs, he had no chance to get away before Ginny simply sat herself on his back.

"Don't even think that I'm gonna let you get away with this. You did meet her, didn't you? "

"Yes." Ron was fuming at being in this ridiculous situation. He hoped for the love of God, that no one was watching them.

"Did she tell you?"

"About what?"

"You know fully well what I'm talking about!" She couldn't be sure that Luna had told Ron yet, but it seemed on his behaviour that she had. And Ginny just had to hear how her brother had handled the love confession.

"I don't!" Ron wasn't sure if he could hold on much longer. But anything was better then telling Ginny about what a fool he had made of himself. Especially before he even knew for sure how he felt about it all. He was glad that he had settled things with Harry and Hermione, but at the same time he knew that he had mostly postponed the moment when he would have to evaluate how he felt about Luna and her love for him. Once more he saw for his very eyes how Luna told him that she loved him. He blushed at this inner image.

"Liar!" Ginny didn't know how long she should keep the bluff up. Her brother could be stubborn at times, but not even he could be this stubborn.

Ron thought it through. Luna told him that she loved him. He wasn't sure on how he felt, so he didn't say anything to her. He didn't want to string her along, in case he didn't feel the same way back. At the same time he didn't want to reject her at once. She had walked away without saying anything else, did that mean that she was sad about him not answering? Ahh, he had to focus his thoughts. If he told Ginny what Luna told him, she would get off his back. But she would also demand to know what his response to Luna had been. He couldn't tell her the truth, but he couldn't lie about it either. Luna's face appeared once more in front of his eyes. She looked pleadingly at him.

"Luna," mumbled Ron, his mouth pressed to the grassy ground.

Ginny wondered if she had gone to far. Maybe she shouldn't force her brother to talk about it. But then again, that was what little sisters were for. She decided to give him some air, though, and sat herself on the grass. Gasping for air, Ron sat up next to his little sister.

"I did meet Luna today, and she did tell me something very important." Ron was breathing heavily, but it got easier and easier to breath for every moment.

"Go on," said Ginny. She was glad that Ron was telling her finally, but she had to control herself so that she wouldn't put any more pressure on him.

"She told me that ..."

"Yes."

"That there are Spotty-Striped Waterspiders in the Great Lake."

Ginny stared at him. Then she fiddled a little more with her grass straw. Which she promptly threw away. Grabbing her brother by both of his arms, she shouted in to his face.

"COULD YOU BE SERIOUS FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE!"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because this is none of your business, Gin."

Ginny straightened her back. Ron only called her Gin when he was really serious. She didn't know how to respond to his statement, or if she even should respond. But Ginny being Ginny, couldn't resist an opening when she saw it.

"So in other words, she did tell you the real deal." She put on a big, conniving smile as she said it.

"Like I said, it's none of your business." Ron was blushing furiously. Why did his sister keep insisting like this? He couldn't understand why it was so important for her to know, she didn't have anything to do with it. Unless...

"Ginny, did you tell Luna to say that?"

"What? Of course not!" Ginny was just happy that Luna after all of this time, had finally got out with it, after having kept it inside of her for so long. Ginny had been encouraging to Luna, but she hadn't made her do it. This was Luna's decision afterall.

"Because if you told her to lie to make me feel happy or something like that..."

"You idiot! Is it that difficult to believe that Luna would say that to you?"

"Of course it is! No girl has ever told me that they loved me before, how was I supposed to react?"

"React? What are you talking about?"

Ron clasped his hand over his mouth. His big and stupid mouth. Turning scarlet all over his face and ears, he turned around so that Ginny wouldn't see him.

"Ron! What did you do?"

"What makes you think that I did anything?"

"Because the last time I saw that shade of red was when I cut myself and started bleeding. Now, tell me!"

Ron fidgeted a little more. He could refuse, but he had the feeling that Ginny wouldn't be as lenient now as she had been before. He took a deep breath and exhaled forcefully. Then he stood up, his back still turned to Ginny.

"I didn't do anything. And therein lies the problem. I didn't answer her when she told me how she felt about me. I didn't even give her the faintest of responses."

Ginny looked at her brother. She knew that he must feel bad about himself, having ignored a girl's feelings like that. But still...

"You idiot!"

She transformed into a human storm cloud. Ron turned around to look at her, and jumped back at the sight. Standing up, her hair was fizzling and her face had turned a bright red colour, the Weasley trademark, and her face was contorted into a scowl that reminded him of their mother.

"How could you just ignore a girl's feelings like that? Do you have any idea of how long it took for her to gather up the courage to confess her feelings to you? Don't you know how a simple no would have been much more preferable than completely ignoring her?"

"Ginny. Listen."

"No, you listen to me. A girl's heart is very delicate, you can't go around breaking hearts like that. If you act that way, then you are the worst kind of person imaginable, and I would really hate having to know that I'm related to you."

"Ginny!"

"And Luna is my best friend. How do you think I will feel about knowing that my brother broke her heart every time I go and hang out with her? How do you think I will be able to face her like that? She's the most wonderful person in the world, and if you're gonna treat her like this, then you don't deserve to have her love you."

"Ginny! I know."

Ginny stopped herself. Not so much because Ron's words had affected her, more because she didn't have anything else to say.

"I know that I probably hurt her feelings. I just did what seemed to be the best and most honest thing to do."

"The best and most honest thing to do would have been to give her a straight answer."

"But if you don't have any straight answers, what are you to do then?"

Ginny looked at him.

"Say what?"

Ron shrugged his shoulders in a exasperant manner.

"When she told me, I was completely caught of guard. I had never even considered how I felt about her in any way. Plus, this morning I found out that Harry and Hermione are in love with each other, and a couple as of now."

"Really? Well that explains why they were being so lovey dovey." Ginny was happy that her brother had confirmed her suspicions, and decided to question Hermione for details later. "Of course, they took their merry time of figuring it out. Everyone else knew about those two."

Ron's ears turned a slightly deeper shade of red.

"I didn't," he said with a weak voice.

"Come again?"

"I didn't see it happening. I thought that Hermione and Harry were just friends. I thought that I was in love with her."

Ginny frooze. She had had an inkling as to how Ron had felt about Hermione, but she had for a long time hoped that she had been wrong. She hadn't wanted for him to get hurt. Looking more tentatively at her brother, she nudged his elbow to silently urge him to go on.

"Anyway. I was still feeling things for Hermione, and I didn't have a clue as to what Luna had to tell me. Now I don't really feel anything when it comes to Hermione. I felt betrayed because of her and Harry getting together, but now I don't feel that anymore. I only feel friendship with the two of them. And as for Luna. I don't know how I feel, because I don't know how to recognise my own feelings."

Ginny looked at him. It all sounded so sad. Like a tragic lovestory. She had had no way of knowing that Ron could feel these kind of things.

"I guess I've always been bad at knowing how I feel about things. Never knowing when I'm jealous or righteous. Angry or sad. As of now, I've been trying to resolve how I feel about Harry and Hermione, since they are my two best friends. But I don't know how I should feel about Luna."

"Don't think of it like that!"

Ron looked surprised at his sister.

"You shouldn't think of how you should feel about Luna, you should think of how you actually feel about her. As a girl, I can tell you that no one wants someone to pretend feelings they don't have. If you love her, then you love her and should be with her. If you don't love her, then you should tell her so and help her to move on in life. Until that you know for sure, you shouldn't pretend to feel things you don't feel. Trust me, I should know about this kind of stuff."

"Thanks, Ginny. For an annoying little sister, you sure know how to give good advice."

Ginny did a little curtsy and stuck out her tongue. Then she did a little pirouette and walked away from her brother.

"I just wanted to know about that, so now I don't see any reason to hang out with you any further."

Ron chuckled. He didn't want the world to know, but he sure was happy that he atleast had a sister who could tell him this sort of stuff. Five brothers on the other hand, was a tad bit overdone to him. Let's see now. Harry and Hermione were off studying, which Ron didn't feel like spending his Saturday doing. There was no scheduled quidditch training, no Hogsmeade visits. What to do now?

Figure out his feelings for Luna. It was all he could do. Even when he did his best to think of something else beside her, his thoughts returned to her. And he didn't want her to have to suffer from not knowing any longer than necessary. So he started to walk around the lake, trying to figure out how you figure out your feelings for a person. All the while as a mysterious figure was watching him from behind.

**Author's notes:** The third appearance of our mysterious stranger. Is the identity of this stranger tickling your inquisite minds? Please guess at who it might be, you never know, you may be right. You can guess, vote, decide who it is either by reviewing my fic (if you're reading this at some fiction-site) or by leaving a signature in my guestbook (if you're reading this at my site).


	5. Chapter 5

Discovering a lost heart.

**Author's notes: **I have decided to save the autor's notes until after the chapter, since I want to go in on something that may be a bit of a spoiler for you. But I first want to say thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. I noticed that I haven't taken the time to do so before, but you all deserve a big thank you for encouraging me to keep writing.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Harry Potter, Ron Weasley or any of the established characters and scenes from the Harry Potter books. I do however finally own myself after buying myself up from Microsoft. And I still don't make any money on this. I am not going to turn this into a movie. I'm not going to get this published by any bigger syndicate. If I did, I would have no defense in any court of law since these characters are copyrighted, so it would imply that I am a big idiot. You don't want to do that now, do you?

Chapter 5, Gossip.

Luna was hugging her pillow tightly to her supple body, as she lay curled up in her bed. Luckily, there was no one else in the dormitory. All the other Ravenclaw girls in her year, were out having fun in the sun. Probably talking about boys. She heaved a great sigh. Where did things go wrong? Why did she blurt it out to him even after she realised that he didn't and never could feel the same way? He was in love with someone else. And now he knew how she felt about him. The look on his face when she told him haunted her; he had been shocked to hear it. Was it really so shocking to hear a love confession from her? Yes, yes it was. She always shocked people, in fact she was mostly proud about that. She wondered if now that his shock might have passed, if he was laughing at it all. What if he thought it was some kind of joke? Oh, how come she had been able to be more accepting of her fate before, and now felt that her world had come crashing down on her? She started to cry some more. Ronald was the first boy she had ever fallen in love with, actually he was the first boy she had ever even fancied. And now he was her first heartbreak.

Meanwhile, Ginny was walking away from her brother. Boys! They knew nothing about the fragility of a girl's heart. Poor Luna. Ginny knew that she had to talk to her, she was in need of the comfort only a female best friend could offer. But Luna was in the Ravenclaw common room, and Ginny didn't have the password. What to do, she wondered. As she sat herself on the ground trying to figure out a way to get to Luna, she saw a couple of girls her age pass her by. A couple of Ravenclaw girls. Ginny rose up so quickly so she fell down again. Cursing a bit, she got herself up again and brushed off any grass straws that had stuck to her robes. She walked off to the group of girls. As she got closer she recognised one of the girls to be Mary Sue Johnson, a very annoying girl that always had to be right in everything. She always carried around her knowledge and good grades like it was a weapon of some sort, and she was always trying to make people believe that she was God's gift to men. With her good looks and her sophisticated manner, she claimed that she could get any boy she targeted to be hers. And by good looks she meant too much makeup. And by sophisticated manner she meant acting like a prissy know-it-all and slut. Ginny would have wanted to tell her that one of her targets, Harry, had been taken, but now was not the time. Right now she needed a favour, and had to be nice even if it killed her. Plastering a nice non-threatening smile on her face, she started waving her hand and calling out.

"Hi Mary Sue!"

Mary Sue turned around. She suppressed a snort. That Weasley girl was always hanging around with Loony Lovegood, trying to be friends with her or something. Loony was too weird to have around in her year and house, shouldn't she have been accepted in Hufflepuff or something? Mary Sue had made sure to keep others from becoming friends with Lovegood, but this Weasley girl was annoyingly persisting to be best friends with her. What did she want with her now?

"Well hello, Ginny," she said with her falsely cheery voice. With a quick elbow jab she had her cortege to follow suit.

"Hello Ginny."

"Hi."

Ginny looked at them, maintaining her polite smile, and wishing that she could use that ear-closing spell. Mary Sue's voice was unnaturally high-pitched.

"Hi everybody," she responded. "Could I ask you something?"

"Why yes, sure," said Mary Sue. She may not like to have to do with Ginny, but she was always one to see an opportunity when it landed on her lap. "Ask away."

"Well, I'm looking for Luna, and I was just wondering if you…"

"…had seen her? Not since breakfast I'm afraid. Why? Did you have something important to say to her?"

"No, not really," said Ginny quickly. She knew better than to let Mary Sue find out about Luna's current situation. If she knew about that, Luna would never be able to live with having to share a dormitory with them for another one and a half years. "It was just that we had planned to meet earlier today and she didn't show up."

"Well maybe she's in our dormitory, moping," said one of the girls that Ginny remembered to be called Mopsy.

"What? What makes you think that?" asked Mary Sue.

"Well I overheard one of the younger girls saying that they saw Loony heading towards the Entrance Hall with tears in her eyes." Mopsy seemed to enjoy being in the center of attention, she probably didn't get to be that often. "I just mean, I was kind of shocked when I heard it. Lovegood hardly shows any emotions at all, I can hardly imagine her crying."

"That's true, Loony crying, now that's something you don't see every day." Mary Sue laughed at the thought of it, and was then struck by a marvellous idea.

"Come on, everybody! This is something we have to see." Grabbing Ginny's arm, she continued. "You too. It will be all right, no one has to know that you got into a common room where you didn't belong."

"Don't be silly!" Ginny decided to go out on a limb. "You said it yourself, you could hardly imagine her crying, what makes you so sure that she really is?"

"Well, there's a first for everything, isn't there?" asked Mary Sue. "Besides, didn't you want to meet up with your friend?"

Ginny shivered at the sight of her smile. She didn't have much of a choice; there was only one thing that she could do that would reduce as much embarrassment for Luna as possible. She had to come with them and support Luna in any way she could. Resigned to her fate she let herself be dragged along to the Ravenclaw common room.

As they were almost at the hidden entrance to the common room, Mary Sue turned around to Mopsy.

"What is this week's password?"

"Eh? They changed the password again?"

"You don't know the password?"

"Why do they have to change it on a weekly basis? It's so hard to keep up with."

Ginny just couldn't believe that this gang of airheads were Ravenclaw students.

No wonder that Luna was ahead every one of them. There was only one Ravenclaw girl in their year that got better grades than Luna, though. Now was Ginny's chance. She had to come up with a plan now that the opportunity to do so had presented itself. But what to do? As Ginny was racking her brain to come up with a plan, the entrance opened on its own accord and Luna stepped out.

Looking at the grandfather clock standing by itself in the bedroom, Luna wiped her her eyes dry. It was already two'o'clock in the afternoon. She had missed lunch. Working up the courage to tell Ronald how she really felt, she hadn't been able to eat and had promised herself to eat directly afterward. A bit embarrassed she remembered having had a fleeting image of eating together with Ronald, perhaps as a picknick by the lake. No, she was not going to cry anymore. She promised mummy that. Mum. Luna thought back to that day so long ago. Her mother lying in a heap of shrapnel having difficulty to breathe and how she cried at the sight of that. And her mother saying with that sweet and gentle voice of hers;

"Don't cry. Good ladies don't cry. They find happiness even in sadness."

Since then Luna had only cried two times. The day of her mother's funeral, because her father looked so sad, and today. Thinking about it, she realised that technically she had cried three times, since she had cried at two separate times today. Her stomach growled, interrupting her thoughts. She chuckled a bit. Better find something to fill my stomach with, she thought to herself. Atleast now she wasn't crying anymore. She stood up and looked over her robes. A bit wrinkled but acceptable. Now for her face. She didn't often look into the wall mirror, like the other girls seemed to do constantly, but she had to make sure that there were no visible traces of her crying left on her face. After an extensive lookover she vent to the bathroom to thoroughly rinse her face with some cold water. Drying off her face she took a new look in the bathroom mirror. Much better. Now she could go and eat without worrying what people would think. She stopped on the way to the door. She had never worried about what other people thought of her before, why would she do that now all of a sudden? Shrugging her shoulders, she resumed her path to the entrance of the common room. As the entrance opened and she stepped out she noticed that the corridor was rather crowded.

"Hi Ginny. What are you doing here?"

Everybody stared at Luna. While the other girls seemed to be mostly disappointed at seeing her, Ginny lit up at the sight of her. She rushed up to her friend and hooked arms with her.

"I just wanted to see you, silly! You promised that we would meet up today, remember?"

"Oh. It seems I forgot." Luna was getting back to being herself.

"That's OK, come on. Let's go somewhere and have a talk."

As Ginny grabbed a hold of Luna's arm and started pulling her down the corridor, Mary Sue and her gang of girls stayed behind thunderstruck. Finally Mary Sue got a hold of herself and started laughing out loud.

"Oh how dumb you are, Mopsy, believing such a dumb thing! Of course Loony would never cry, she's completely emotionless."

"Hmm, then maybe the other thing I heard about her is wrong, too?"

"What are you talking about, Mops?" asked one of the other girls.

"Well I heard something about Loony hanging out with that Weasley boy, you know. The Gryffindor keeper, whatever his name is."

"Ron Weasley!"

All the girls turned to stare at Mary Sue. There was a strange aura around her.

"Yes, that's the guy," Mopsy continued. "Appearantly it was after talking with him, she was supposed to have started crying."

"Maybe she has a crush on him?" the other girl said. "I mean, she talks a lot about him. She even asked Padma what she thought about him, and made that ridiculous hat for Gryffindor when he made the team."

"Hehe, silly girl." Mary Sue had a strange smile on her face. "Doesn't she realise that she doesn't stand a chance for the heart of Ron Weasley?"

"That's true, I mean they're in different houses and different years. It's not like..."

"When it is I who Ron's heart is pounding for!"

All the girls stopped up to look at their leader. They knew that she was God's gift to men, but had she already conquered the heart of all the Gryffindor boys?

"But, Mary Sue, I thought that you were aiming for the heart of Harry Potter?"

"Who says I can't have both?" Mary Sue got a dreamy look in her eyes. "The brave and mysterious Harry Potter and the handsome and muscular Ron Weasley, the dreamiest boys in all of Gryffindor's sixth year. They both deserve a beautiful and smart girl like myself. Right, girls?"

"Right!"

"You had me so worried, Luna!"

"Worried?"

Luna and Ginny were marching towards the Great Hall, a decision made unanimously by their stomachs' growling.

"You didn't come talk with me after you talked with my brother, like you promised that you would, and then I hear a rumour going around that you were crying. What happened between you two, really?"

"Well, I... I'd rather not talk about it. Not here anyway."

"Then where?" They had reached the Entrance Hall and were nearing the Great Hall.

"Somewhere not so crowded, so we can talk alone."

As they walked up to one of the tables, Ginny started grabbing some sandwiches and a couple of chicken bones that she placed in a napkin. Ignoring the outcries from a enraged Slytherin she picked up a couple of apples and a bottle of pumpkin juice. As Luna picked up a couple of goblets, they turned around and made their way out again followed by more cries from said Slytherin which they ignored.

"How about by the lake?" Ginny asked.

"No, preferably not." Luna didn't feel like returning to the scene of the crime.

"Hmm, over by the cherry trees, then?"

"Sounds good."

They made their way to a secluded area on the grounds where six cherry trees were growing, a place that they called their own as they had spent a lot of time there. It was the one place that Luna could feel comfortable talking about the previous events that day, but she tried to sound as neutral about it as possible. She didn't want Ginny to worry anymore than she already seemed to be doing. Having been friends for some years now, Luna could usually tell when Ginny was too worried about her. Usually Ginny would worry about Luna not having many friends, but she would always make a show of not seeming to care about that. It always made Luna feel a bit happier to know that Ginny would care so much. They reached the the shade of the trees and sat themselves down and started to eat on their belated lunch. After a couple of bites on her sandwich, Ginny turned to Luna.

"So? How did it go?"

"I told him."

"And?"

Luna stared out in the open for a while.

"It didn't matter. He let me know how he felt before I even had the chance to tell him. But I told him anyway, so it doesn't really matter. Although I felt a bit..., Ginny?"

Ginny had dropped her sandwich and was staring at Luna.

"He did what?"

"He let me know that he was in love with Hermione. He didn't do it on purpose, but he did let me know atleast. After that I wasn't sure if I should tell him, and then he walked away. And then Malfoy, or whatever his name is, showed up and saw me crying, and Ronald came to my defense, but he didn't understand why I cried so I told him that I loved him and then he frooze up and I walked back to the dormitory and then I cried my eyes out and then I stopped and now we're sitting here." A lot of what Luna said was said very fast and with a very emotional tone behind it.

"Slow down, Luna." Ginny grabbed Luna's arms and pulled her into a comforting hug. "Now, take a few breaths and relax."

Luna didn't want to breathe, she was afraid that she would start crying again if she did. But she realised that she had to, and started drawing in deep breaths of air.

"Now, let's start again. One thing at a time. How did Ron let you know how he felt?"

"He... He got angry when I said that Harry and Hermione were obviously getting toether and that Hermione wouldn't fit with anyone else. He asked if I didn't think that he and her could have been together, and then he got angry and walked away."

That stupid bastard of her brother, why hadn't he told her about this before? It seemed that Ron had hurt Luna a lot more than he realised. Why were boys so irrepairably stupid?

"And then I started crying. And then that Malfoy boy showed up and started teasing me for crying."

Another person on Ginny's to-curse-list. It was already growing a bit too long for her to handle it over the weekend.

"But Ronald came back and told Malfoy off. And then he realised that I was already crying, and he got all embarrassed."

Ginny was slightly impressed. So her brother had his finer points after all.

"And then he thought that it was because I had a crush on Harry, that I had cried. And I just started laughing then. I couldn't believe that he hadn't seen it by then. And so I told him."

Ginny released Luna from her hug, so that she could sit up straight. She looked at her friend with tears glistening in her eyes.

"But now I think that it was a mistake. He looked so shocked when I said it. I probably embarrassed myself in front of him. What if he tells everyone about it, so that they can laugh about it?"

Ginny tried so hard to come up with what to do, that her failure at it only hurt more. She couldn't tell her what her brother had told her, because then she would have revealed to Luna that she had talked to him first. Not to mention that Ron still needed to figure out some things on his own. But she couldn't just let Luna sit here and think that Ron would publically announce what Luna had said to him.

"Luna. I think it is okay."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that Ron was probably just surprised at finding out that you like him. I don't think he dislikes you or anything."

"Small comfort, Ginny. He still loves another girl."

"That doesn't really mean anything, Luna."

"How do you figure?" Luna's eyes were drying up. If Ginny thought there was still hope, then maybe it wasn't all over. Of course Ginny had thought that there was still hope for Harry to get together with Cho, but this was different.

"What I mean is that Ron doesn't know that much about love. He may think that he loved Hermione, but he may still be wrong on that. And besides, Hermione's with Harry now. Ron is wide open. You just have to go in and steal his heart."

"Ginny! This isn't quidditch! I can't just go in and steal his heart."

"Yes, you can! Stealing a heart is easy, the tricky part is keeping it..." Ginny got caught up in her own musings. "Or better yet, have him steal your heart!"

"What!"

"Since he is the Gryffindor keeper, he will have to keep your heart if he steals it."

Luna looked down at the grass, where their napkin filled with food was still laying. Forcing herself not to start laughing, or get angry at her friend, she looked up at the smiling girl in front of her.

"First of all, I think that you are taking these quidditch analogies a bit too far. Secondly, Ronald already has my heart! He doesn't need to steal it! And thirdly, the problem is getting him to want to steal it."

"Yes, I know. I didn't mean anything really with it anyway. You're taking things a bit too seriously I think."

"Well, it is my lovelife we are talking about."

"Don't worry about it, it will turn out all right."

"How can you be so sure? What if Ronald tells everyone about what I told him?"

"He won't do that, and I should know. He is my brother after all. Eventhough he can be incredibly stupid sometimes, even he knows better than to do something like that."

"I guess you're right."

"Come on, Luna! You better eat up now, or I'll eat your half of the lunch as well."

And with that, they started to dig in on their food.

Meanwhile, Ron was walking around the Great Lake. He had finally realised that he had missed eating lunch, but he didn't feel like eating. Not when he may have crushed a girl's heart. A friend's heart. Even though Ron had not known Luna for as long as he had known Hermione, she was still a very close friend of his. They had fought against death eaters together, they had laughed together and they had practised in the DA together. But, it had also been together with a lot of other people. How did he really feel about Luna? What did he think about her? Would he still be laughing together with her, if it were only with her? He remembered the first time they met. He had been frustrated about Malfoy being the Slytherin prefect, which made it less enjoyable for him to be a prefect himself. He hadn't noticed her then. Not until she spoke up about him going to the Yule Ball with Padma. At first he couldn't believe that anyone would be so interested in knowing all that she did know about that. Nor could he understand why she would just continue reading her paper like nothing had happened. He stopped up a bit. Had she felt that way for him already back then? Well, it certainly would explain why she had told him that she wouldn't have minded not dancing. And then he had said that joke, and she had been laughing like crazy. Well, she was a little crazy after all. He chuckled at the thought of it.

"Stop it," he said out loud.

He was getting around the subject again. He had to figure out how he felt about Luna as soon as possible, so that he could tell her as soon as possible. He didn't want to hurt her. Could it be because he actually did feel something for her? Or was it just because she was his friend? It was all so confusing. It would be better to look at it from a different angle. How did he feel about her in comparance with Hermione? She had been his crush for a couple of years now, shouldn't she be a good way to meassure his feelings towards Luna? But at the same time, he had to admit to himself that he still wasn't sure of how he had really felt about Hermione. Had he just fooled himself when he thought that he had been in love with her? Considering that he got over her so fast, that would be very probable. Well, he didn't have any other girl he could think of to compare with, except Fleur then. As a whole myriad of embarrassing memories flooded his mind, he decided to try and avoid thinking of the veela-similar beauty that had occupied his mind for a big part of his forth year. He started to think about Luna, focusing on only her and what he thought of her. She was pretty, that he sincerely thought of her. She was smart, and a good friend when it mattered. When he had been insecure about his abilities at the quidditch field, she had given him support. She could be very fun to be with sometimes, and she obviously thought he was fun to be with. But did he love her? What was love anyway? Was it more than friendship? More than family? Or less? Or just different? He walked up to the lakeshore and started to take his shoes off. It felt like a good idea to soak his feet in the water for now, while he tried to sort things out. If they could be sorted out that was.

At that moment, Mary Sue had finally come up with a new plan of action. Excusing her group of girls for the day, she made her way out to the grounds. Knowing the quidditch practice schedules for each team, for boy-scouting fun, she knew that Gryffindor did not have practice today. However, knowing that there wasn't any practice at all today, it would not surprise her if some Gryffindors were practicing anyway. And Ron being a Weasley would very likely mean that he would be there, if one were to consider some things, like a huge interest in quidditch, to be genetical. And if he wasn't there, she would just have to go look after him. Since if there was a small chance that Luna was in love with Ron, then what better way to really destroy her than to make him the property of Mary Sue, God's gift to Men? She laughed with mirth at the thought of it.

**Author's notes:** As you can see, I have decided to poke a little fun at the whole Mary Sue phenomenon that you can find in most fanfics. For those of you who don't know what a Mary Sue is, you are either very lucky or just without a name for these fools. A Mary Sue is a character created by the fanfic author, that is usually overly perfect and annoying. She usually have everyone fall in love with her and becomes friends with everybody. Why I gave her the surname Johnson, I don't know. It sounded right at the time. While I'm pointing out this little humour bit of mine, I would like to take the opportunity to point out other inside jokes from a previous chapter. In chapter three, just before Luna confesses her love to Ron, there are three instances of my own twisted self-refering humour. The first is of Luna staring at Ron as he was a martian, this is a small tribute to Seph who is a martian and a fellow Ron/Luna-shipper. The second is Luna "bursting" out in a "bubbling" laughter. This is refering to a entry in my guest book at Crumple-Horned Snorkacks Nest, where the R/Hr-shipper writing said "Sorry to burst your bubble, but Ron is Hermione's couple". It is thankfully the only negative entry I have gotten, other R/Hr-shippers have been very nice and polite to me, and it is just so plain funny to me that I have to joke about it all of the time. It just shows how people seldom takes the time to look at what they are writing. The third one is probably a lot more wellknown for shippers. Luna says to Ron "Isn't it obvious?" in reference to her love for him. This is a wellknown statement by many R/Hr-shippers, about Ron and Hermione hooking up together.

Now that we are through with all of the self-refering and disturbing humour of mine, I shall leave you with these questions:

Who is the mysterious stranger?

Does Ron really love Luna?

What will Ginny have to do to keep Luna's spirits up?

What is Mary Sue up to? Will she steal Ron's heart?

Will there be any more snogging in this fic, besides the one in the first paragraph in the first chapter?

Seriously, where's the snogging?

And will any of these questions be answered in the next chapter?

And will someone stop the author from filling up the fics with notes that doesn't bring the story further?


End file.
